The Days of Destruction
by Undying at Midsummer
Summary: Death Eaters have taken over Hogwarts, and Hermione has lost everything. Worst of all, Ron and Harry are missing. Draco claims to know where her best friends are, so she joins him. Soon enough, they're on the run together, from the worst DE of them all...
1. Default Chapter

Devastated, Hermione took in the landscape around her.

She was in Hogwarts – her second home, the place cherished in her heart. She was lying at the end of the Quidditch Pitch, just meters away from the Forbidden Forest. She was just sitting there, staring at Hogwarts.

Or what it used to be.

There was no more Hogwarts. The Quidditch Pitch stretched out long in front of her, brown and coarse. And behind it - Hogwarts was burning. The air around Hermione smelt like rancid flesh and smoke, and it was lukewarm and stuffy – she could hardly breathe. Scream and scream echoed through the night, and person after person could be seen jumping off Hogwarts. The night air was alive with noise – screams, clashing and vibrating with terror. But Hermione couldn't hear anything. She couldn't hardly see anything either, or smell anything. She was just sitting there, numb, so numb. She didn't know how she managed to get there – to save herself from the war, escaping with only the ends of her hair singed. She didn't know how, or why.

She didn't know where Ron or Harry were either. They could be one of the people taking a suicide jump off the castle, because it was sure, however she had gotten here, they hadn't been able to join her. The two most important people in her life… could be dying.

Her breath was lost in her throat, and the rush was hot anger came about the same time as the tears that spilled down her mud-streaked cheeks.

It was that terrible thought which propelled her forward. She shakily stood up, breathing deeply to calm herself. And with her watering eyes set straight forward, she strode in the direction of the burning castle.

She was at the end of the Quidditch Pitch and the screams were getting louder, and the stink stronger. The place was a madhouse. The students seemed to have multiplied and some hysterical survivors ran past Hermione, their eyes like madman's. Just minutes before, those same students were lounging in their common rooms, no worries save for the late homework or overdue library book.

Hermione was one of those people. She, Harry and Ron had chosen their favorite seats in the common room, and were laughing, for no particular reason.

It was then one of those random pauses – the sort of pauses which people who are having different conversations all happen to pause at the exact same moment and for a second everything is quiet – and then it happen.

A scream. Somebody had screamed, and pretty damn loud too. Everyone exchanged confused looks. Then there were more screams, both male and female, and footsteps could be heard. Not from just one person though, from a crowd, by the sound of it.

The Gryffindors stepped outside the common room and met the rush of terrified students running past.

"Run!" Some people called out to them. "Run, run, now! While you can!"

Everyone, understandable, was confused. Then, we felt a cold breeze. People were just coming round the corner. People with dark cloaks, and the Dark Mark clearly visible on the front of their robes. They were walking calmly, not running, as if they knew they would catch us anyway.

And by god did we run.

In the stream of people, things became a blur. Where were the teachers? Were they dead, what happened to them?

The stream of students came to an intersection and without thinking, people ran down different roads. Hermione ran left, puffing, and it was a while before she realized Ron and Harry weren't with her. She had lost them in the intersection – had they taken a different path?

From then on, it was blank to Hermione. All she could think about was to now find her Harry and Ron.

Inside the castle, it was strangely quite. The occasional, far-off scream could be heard, the occasional student fled by, and occasionally Hermione found herself walking next to someone's dead body, drowned in a pool of it's own blood. The sight made her sick. And she also found herself checking every corpse to make sure it wasn't anyone she knew. _Think positive_, she told herself._ Positive_.

At one point she almost walked around a corner straight into a Death Eater. She jumped back quickly, of course, without being seen. Her heart was pounding painfully in her chest. She'd been careless – walking the hallway like she used to. The dead bodies weren't there for nothing.

A hand grabbed her arm, and she almost screamed, if it were not for the hand tightly covering her mouth.

"Shut _up_, Granger, it's me," hissed a voice.

_Perfect_, she thought. _It's Malfoy_.

To her horror, and utter embarrassment (she had been meaning to show Malfoy she was a calm, level-headed girl and not weak) she started talking fast and hysterically – it was like hearing a familiar voice broke her down.

"Oh, _Malfoy_," she wept. "I'm so glad you're here – what on earth's going on? Why is this happening? And _where on earth are Ron and Harry_? Oh, Draco, I've been so _worried_ – "

What was even more embarrassing was that she starting crying on his shoulder. She supposed she had been in shock before, and trying to bottle her feelings down – now she fully realized what was happening, the true _danger_ and it all came out.

Draco, to say the least, was shocked. "Granger, calm down." He said, awkwardly patting her head. "Get a grip of yourself. Don't worry about your friends, I know where they are and they're safe."

Hermione's head shot up. "They're _safe_! Oh thank _god_…' she felt giddy with relief. "But wait… aren't you on the dark side? Shouldn't you be back there with them all, killing everyone? Why ?"

"For Christ's sake, _shut up_!" Draco hissed. "First of all I'm not on the Dark Side, and second of all, if you keep talking like you are, you're going to get us both killed."

Hermione was silent.

"Come with me," he said, gently taking a firm grip on her upper arm and pulling her along.

She don't know why she followed. She supposed it was because she was scared, and didn't know what else to do. Everything seemed lost to her.

* * *

AN: I promise I'll update my other stories and get a start on the sequel to MtaM. But I had to write this down, and since I have a story for this in mind, I thought I'd post it. Please tell me what you think. 


	2. Chapter Two

**Days of Destruction **

**A/N**: Finally wrote and uploaded the second chapter. Sorry about taking a long time, I have been with school and such. Hope everyone enjoys. I'll try and work on all my other stories, I seem to have a lot with only two chapters now. :) Please R&R!

* * *

Draco pulled Hermione into an empty classroom. 

"Where are Harry and Ron?" Hermione demanded.

"I can't tell you that," Draco said. "But look, I might as well tell you the whole story. I used to be on the Dark Side, but just a few years ago, I swapped sides, see? Now that Voldemort has taken over – well – I'm in some trouble. Voldemort's out to punish all the people that betrayed him, so I need to run. I want you to come with me – I'll look less conspicuous and you're the best witch in our entire grade, I'm gonna need you're help. It's quite lucky for me you didn't die, actually," he added as an afterthought.

Hermione ignored the last comment. "And what do I get out of helping you and putting myself in danger?"

"I know where Ron and Harry are," Draco said. "It's lucky for _you_ I'm alive, otherwise you'd never find them."

Hermione weighed the things up in her mind. It was possible that Draco was bluffing, but then again he'd know she'd get her revenge if she found out that was true, and she had little choice.

A scream, sounding startlingly close, reminded her that if she stepped outside alone, she'd be killed. With Draco she had a chance. As slim as it was. She also figured she could use him now – it was an evil thing to do, but to survive you had to go to extreme measures – and then change her mind.

"Agreed," she said. "Now, _get me out of here_."

Wordlessly, Draco reached inside his blood-stained robes and rummaged around for something.

"Quickly!" Hermione shrieked. Someone, a Death Eater by the sound of it, had started pounding on the door, encouraged by the sound of her shriek.

Draco produced from the depths of his robe a small cordial of blue fluid. He hastily drained half of it.

"Drink the rest," he told her.

She didn't need to be told twice. She almost swallowed the glass tube in her hurry to get it down.

Draco made a grab for her hand just in time and then, with a painful lurnch, they had vanished.

* * *

Then, all of a sudden, they were standing in another room, in exactly the same position as when they vanished. Draco hastily dropped Hermione's hand.

Hermione blinked. She didn't feel anything, yet knew it couldn't be a dream because the foul taste of the blue fluid still lingered a bit too realistically in her mouth. The room she stood in was small, with dirty wooden walls and a caved in straw roof with numerous holes. The air reeked so bad of horse manure and moss that the air seemed thick and stuffy. It was hard to breathe.

She tried to step, finding her foot was stuck in a manure of some sort.

"Eeeeew!" she shrieked.

Draco groaned. "Granger, we're going to get nowhere if you're freaked out by a bit of horse turds. I mean really… it's just getting started."

"Shut up and help me!" she snapped. Her shoe was good and truly stuck. She lifted her foot and her foot just slid out of the shoe. "Great." She leaned down and pulled her shoe out with a loud _squelch_.

She then turned on Draco, who was examining the barn. "Why the hell are we here Draco? And _where are Harry and Ron_?"

Draco lifted his head and sent her a scathing look before resuming his examination.

"Draco," Hermione said from behind gritted teeth. "This isn't funny. Voldemort and his Death Eaters are destroying Hogwarts – they're killing everyone! And Ron and Harry could very well be dead! We can't just stand here and do nothing! We've _got_ to help them!"

She took a deep breath, trying to control the rush of adrenaline and anger that hummed in her veins.

"We can't help them now," Draco told her. "There's nothing we can do. People our dying – people we know – and you've got to accept that."

A strangled gasp escaped her throat and against her will, the tears started rolling down her cheeks. "But – I can't." she whispered between sobs.

"The only way you can help them is by staying with me."

"How is that?"

"Because you're the only one who is capable to protect me against the Death Eaters, and I'm the only one who knows where Harry is, and Harry is the only one who can stop Voldemort. See?"

Hermione nodded weakly. She sat down on a barrel of hay, trying to sort things out in her mind.

A few minutes later Draco seemed down examining the barn.

"We can't stay here," he concluded aloud. "Your pothead friend Potter is lying unconscious somewhere, and we've got to get to him as fast as possible. I think that Lucius has put tracking spells on this barn… most likely all the places he knows I would stay…" Draco seemed deep in thought, and Hermione listened intently.

"Lucius?" she asked shakily. "As in, your father?"

Draco shot her a cold glare. "Yes, as in my father. Do you know of any other Lucius?"

"B-But then why is he after you?"

There was a pause in which Hermione sensed a battle going on in Draco's head. Should he tell her everything, or should he not?

In the end, he did.

"After I decided to not become a Death Eater, my father disowned me. I made up my mind to join Dumbledore and before I left I found something of importance to Voldemort, in our house. It was a spell, still being made. The Death Eater planned to attack Hogwarts and put this spell upon Harry Potter, which would transport him into a new dimension. Afterwards, they would use a potion to get to this dimension and feed him another potion that would twist his mind so that he would become evil. Voldemort decided it would be better than killing him.

"But I stole the potions that they needed to get to his dimension and warp his mind. So… that's why Lucius is after me. Because I have the potions."

"That's not the story you told me before we left Hogwarts!" Hermione pointed out. "You said that you were on the run because Voldemort wanted to punish you."

Draco cocked his head to one side, remembering. "Oh yes, there is that. I lied. But not completely – he _does_ want to punish me."

"How can I believe you now, then?"

He shrugged. "I suppose you can't." He smirked, apparently pleased with himself.

Hermione threw her arms up in despair, lost for words. It seemed he hadn't changed much. Finally her brain started working again, and she had an idea.

"A muggle hotel," she said, eyes bright with enthusiasm and fear. "Lucius wouldn't spell a Muggle Hotel, I don't think he would even consider it."

Draco grimaced. "A-A _muggle_ hotel? As in, a hotel for Mudbloods?"

"Oi," Hermione protested. "Do you want to live or not?"

"Fine," Draco said. "I choose life. I suppose when we get there we can make a plan to get Harry."

Hermione conjured a picture of the Big Apple in her head.

"Ready?" she said, uncertainly taking his hand. When he said nothing, she fixed the image in her head and apparated.

* * *

New York was crowded. People from high-class magazine editors to thin beggars pushed past each other. Nobody noticed that two extra people had suddenly just appeared out of thin air. If they did, they assumed it was the heat.

"Good Lord," Draco said, as a muggle wearing a business suit pushed past him. "Look at all the muggles!"

"Oh, shut up," Hermione snapped, not in the mood. "We have to find a hotel." She took his hand again, so he wouldn't be lost, and expertly steered her way through the throng of sweating bodies.

"What do these mudblood hotels look like?" Draco was asking, but she took no notice.

Eventually she saw one. It looked reasonable enough, and since she saw no Death Eaters lurking around the parking lot, she figured they'd give it a shot.

"Not that," Draco snapped. "I'm a _Malfoy_. I have standards – and I am under no circumstances sleeping anywhere near that cheap Mudblood-built hotel!"

"Malfoy," Hermione turned around to face him. "You are being ridiculous! When you're on the run from crazy Death Eaters, you do not muck about, whining about the quality of your hotel. You do exactly as your smart bodyguard says, because it is safe. Do you understand me!"

Draco made ugly face, but he knew she was right.

"Fine. _Fine_. Let's go in then."

They went in, and booked a room. It was a one room, the only room they had.

Hermione only realized what they meant when they got up there. In the small, poorly furnished room, there was only one bed.

"There's only one bed," Draco pointed out.

"We'll make do," was Hermione's answer. "We can get another mattress or something."

"What's _this_?" Draco asked, poking the television. Hermione spent the next ten minutes explaining what everything was to Draco. He seemed particularly enthralled by the 'telephone'.

"So, when you speak in here, you can actually _hear_ the other person? They're really speaking?"

"_Yes_," Hermione sighed exasperatedly. "I never knew you were so interested in muggle things – you might even be the next Arthur Weasley!"

That shut him up.

* * *

**A/N:** Well I realise that chapter might have been a bit confusing... I'll answer any questions you might have. In the next chapter hopefully there will finally be some Hermione/Draco romance:)  



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